Why can Barça easily beat Inter in Milan?

BarcelonaBarça failed to beat Inter Milan at home (3-3), But he's loaded up on arguments to believe he can do just that at the Giuseppe Meazza. Below, we'll list a few, starting with the individual and ending with the collective.

Lamine Yamal is on everyone's lips. The reason is very obvious. His performance against the Italians, especially the first half, is beyond the reach of almost anyone in world football. Beyond the masterpiece of Barça's first goal, and the cartoonish play immediately afterward that ended up hitting the crossbar after Yann Sommer's save, Simone Inzaghi explained it perfectly after the match: "He impressed me. A talent like this only comes along every 50 years."

And we also said it in this newspaper when some people were saying he wasn't scoring goals: Lamine Yamal is so good that he completely determines the opponent's approach. The Italian coach acknowledged that they had to put three opponents on him (Dimarco and Mkhitaryan weren't enough). When this happens, obviously, spaces open up in other areas of the pitch. Lamine Yamal provides goals, assists, and majestic plays, but he also gives time and space to his teammates.

Beyond Lamine Yamal

The 17-year-old from Mataró is the player with the greatest ability to decide the tie, but Barça has others who could prove decisive in Milan. Piedra to dictate the pace and hold the ball, Pau Cubarsí to put out fires before they even started thanks to his superb positioning and understanding of his surroundings, Dani Olmo to draw in and eliminate opponents with his sweet control in tight spaces, and Raphinha and Ferran Torres to keep their sharp eyes on the ball in front of the sharp face.

On a collective level, Barça has the ability to dominate and feel dominant. The neat and varied ball movement of Iñigo Martínez and Pau Cubarsí ensures the team can progress purposefully into the opponent's half. Whether Inter Milan will dare or need to press higher at any point in the tie remains to be seen, but at this point, Hansi Flick's side should have the potential to overcome this new situation, especially with their central defenders and Pedri, a player with a fantastic ability to hide the ball and escape from the opposition's pressure.

Inter are typically not particularly aggressive in their pressing in the opposition's half unless the result demands it, as their central defenders aren't particularly quick to track the deep runs of players like Ferran Torres or Raphinha. It's likely that on Tuesday, despite playing at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, we'll still see a reactive Inter side, often buried in their own penalty area. That was the story of the first half of the first leg, and also at times in the second, and Barça demonstrated their resourcefulness in attacking the stifled Italian defense, whether by conquering the front of the field, moving their three center backs to separate them slightly or from their full-back, or by fiercely pressing the ball into the net.

The issue of pressing is, arguably, the biggest tactical disappointment of the tie. Analyzing Inter, we already explained that Milan has a wide range of resources when it comes to getting out of pressure, getting the ball out under control, and directing attacks into the opponent's half. They demonstrated this on Montjuïc. Far from abusing direct play toward their two forwards, Inzaghi's team also knew how to find other avenues, although most were filled with traps devised by Flick. It's not a good idea to reduce Inter to a defensive and sufficient team.

Barça pressed hard, did so very well and voraciously, but the Italian team rose to the challenge and at various times knew how to bypass the pressure and attack the Barça's back line with triangulations, changes of orientation, and second-wave players. They are also very good, and most of their players have good feet and personality on the ball.

To win in Milan, Barça will have to do many of the same things they did in the first half. They will have to press with the same conviction and, obviously, they will also have to defend their penalty area better, especially in set plays. If Hansi Flick's Barça plays at the level of the best we've seen this season—and we've seen several—they will have a serious chance of winning and making it to the final in Munich on May 31.